Reconditioned washing machine - shop will not honour guarantee

[pappabear]

I bought a reconditioned washing mashing for £180 from The appliance repair centre in Colchester . After 5 months the inner drum came loose, as I was given a 6 month guarantee by the proprietor I returned it only to have him tell me that he would not honour it as the parts were too expensive. I tried to argue that is why I am asking for the guarantee to be honoured but he said that I could argue it in court and for me to leave his shop. So now I have a machine that doesn't work, a guarantee that is useless and a growing pile of dirty washing! is there anything I can do about this? Obviously it would cost too much to take him to the county court and I'm sure he was aware of this fact when he said it.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

The guarantees are always in "addition" to our consumer rights set out in the sale of goods act, which equally apply to refurbished or "reconditioned" products. The expectations will be lower than when buying new but at £180 that's very close to the cost of a brand new budget washing machine and it's pretty likely a small claims court judge would agree it should last longer than 5 months. In fact even if the drum failed after the 6 month guarantee it may still be possible to claim under the sale of goods act that it hasn't lasted a reasonable time.

The guarantees given when we buy a product are considered to be legally binding contracts with the original purchaser.

If you have a written guarantee you should be able to take it further but ultimately, if they are being intransigent about it there's nothing you can do except take them to the small claims court. However, taking a trader to the small claims court is not expensive, or difficult. The whole system was set up to help the consumer fight back and does not cost a lot of money at all, if you win your case these nominal costs should be paid by the trader.

It's unusual for a trader to adopt such an unreasonable attitude and openly refuse to honour the guarantee for no other reason than cost. Have they offered any compensation at all?

Most traders selling second hand - or "reconditioned" appliances will fit second hand parts from other appliances in repairs to reduce the costs. Maybe he doesn't have access to one of these drums and a new one will indeed be very expensive. However, a potentially expensive repair is clearly a known risk in selling "reconditioned" washing machines.

Here are some useful links, at the end of the day if a trader refuses to do anything and you believe you are in the right it's a stand off and only the small claim courts can try to force their hand. You should seek help from one of the consumer groups. Here are some useful links -

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) (Citizens Advice bureau (pdf) downloadable booklet)
• Resolver